


Ethics - The Enemy Of Expedience?

by Jenn_Calaelen



Category: Crusade
Genre: Adventure, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-17
Updated: 2009-12-17
Packaged: 2017-10-04 12:17:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenn_Calaelen/pseuds/Jenn_Calaelen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The crew of the Excalibur investigate the Streib in their search for a cure to the Drakh plague.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ethics - The Enemy Of Expedience?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ruuger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruuger/gifts).



“So, you're heading off again tomorrow. Do you have any good leads at the moment?” Elizabeth Lockley asked, as she and Matthew Gideon sat eating take out dinner in her office. ISN was on quietly in the background, showing more pictures of chaos on Earth.

“Two days here is all I can justify, although I've no leads that seem very hopeful,” he replied, looking up from his food.

“Well, then, I have a possible lead for you - one the Rangers are unlikely to give you.” Lockley paused for a moment and took a drink of water.

“Why? Too dangerous?” He had heard the slight tension in her voice.

“I had Corwin oversee a search of our records for anything that might be of help to you. One good lead he found was the Streibs.”

“I've never heard of them. Do they have an ambassador here?” He asked jokingly, attempting to lighten her mood before taking another mouthful of noodles.

“No. They are hostile, but clearly advanced and dangerous. In 2259 they sent a ship out kidnapping pilots of small ships, including President Sheridan, seemingly for research as a prelude to an invasion.”

Gideon was very surprised to here this. He quickly swallowed the food and said, “Really? I never heard about this?” He noticed her slight smile at his reaction.

“Nor had I, until recently. The story never seemed to have been widely circulated.”

“Possibly to avoid panic. So relatively high technology levels?”

“Yes. Seemingly organic technology and some sort of mind control device.”

“I'm surprised EarthGov didn't follow that up.”

“It probably got lost in the shuffle with everything else that was going on around then.”

Gideon paused for a moment, considering asking her about her actions in that time, but instead said, “Certainly worth following up, although it'll have to be done subtly as they are hostile.”

“Here are all of the details that I could find – I've asked around and have managed to obtain a basic file on their language from the Minbari. However, I have also managed to get you disguises, in case it is necessary.” She handed him a datacrystal; he took it from her hand, allowing his fingers to brush over her skin in the process.

“Thank you. What disguises?”

Lockley pulled out half a dozen plastic head masks in the shape of Streib.

“What?” Gideon looked at them in shock. He was about to comment on how impractical this idea was, but Lockley spoke before he had a chance to.

“When EarthGov wanted Babylon 5 to be more lucrative they opened a gift shop here, and one of the highlights was these convincing head masks of various species. When I heard about this, I thought it might come in handy for disguise, so I had some made.” She pulled out a Drazi mask and put it on. “I've had them improved so that the wearer can be heard and hear other people speaking – although it doesn't look as convincing when the wearer is speaking.” Her voice came out muffled, and still sounded human, so Gideon found the effect rather disconcerting.

“That is actually rather impressive and should certainly help, if we send a landing party. Thank you.” He said, then changed the subject.

Matthew Gideon, Dureena Nafeel, Dr Sarah Chambers and Max Eilerson gathered in the conference room on the Excalibur as the ship pulled away from Babylon 5, entering hyperspace through the jump gate. Gideon took a seat at the end of the table and gestured for the others to sit down.

“So now are you going to tell us where we are going?” Chambers asked as they settled around the table.

“We have a lead on an advanced race, known as the Streibs.”

“Presumably hostile or extinct, otherwise someone would already have asked them for help,” said Eilerson as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Hostile. However, they appear to have advanced medical technology. The question is how we attempt to get hold of it.”

“It depends on the information. Being able to download their medical files would be a good start; then we could determine if they have anything further that we need and take it from there,” Chambers suggested.

Gideon noticed that she looked very tired, even though the whole crew had just had leave over the last two days. “That would require getting fairly close and then, possibly, we might be able to get into their systems remotely.”

“I doubt it. To get anything we'd probably have to get physical access to their systems, probably specifically their medical systems. I'm sure that they'll let us do that if we ask them nicely.” Eilerson remarked, eyebrow raised.

“Obviously there will be some danger,” said Dureena.

“We know nothing of their world, or their society, so how can we plan an expedition there?” said Eilerson.

“We have basic language files, and some information on their technology. It is not much, but the risks are justified. Mr Eilerson, I'll give you the language files to familiarise yourself with it. However, if you prefer, I can find someone else to send if it is necessary.” Gideon spoke quickly to try and distract them from arguing. He pushed the relevant datacrystal over.

“No one else is as good at dealing with alien languages, I'll go. However, I maintain that it is impossible to plan properly.” Eilerson picked it up, and got up to leave.

“We'll just have to make it up as we go along. I can probably get us in to their buildings and keep us out of trouble while we are there.” said Dureena. “Probably. However, I won't be the best person to try and retrieve the information from their computer system.”

“We'll include a specialist in the team. Leave that to me to consider,” Gideon replied, “Dr Chambers, do you think that you should go with the team or send someone down to analyse the data?”

“Probably not. It would all need to be translated first. I can send a medic if you want for emergencies.”

“Probably not worth having an extra person on the team, the fewer the better for staying unobserved. While I would prefer to lead the mission in person, if I send Lieutenant Matheson for his technical skills. He'll be in command, and that leaves it at three people.” He thought it was only fair to allow Matheson to lead the mission for a change, although he didn't mention it. After all, he had missed out on most of their excursions to new planets so far.

“While I may be essential to this mission, I wouldn't want to risk future effects being hampered by my death. Surely some security would be appropriate,” said Eilerson turning back towards the room as he had been just leaving.

“I'm sure the two of us can protect you, Maximilian,” Dureena replied before Gideon had a chance to.

“You can always be armed as well, Mr Eilerson.”

“Three of us against a planet full of aliens, of course, that is nothing to worry about.”

“Try and remember that the purpose is not to get into a fight, but to get the information we need.” Gideon said, as he got up to return to the bridge.

That evening ship's time Excalibur cruised through hyperspace towards the Streibs' planet. On the bridge, the crew was busily flying the ship.

“Approaching specified coordinates to arrive a safe distance from their planet.” Matheson turned towards Gideon, waiting for the expected order.

“Jump out of hyperspace,” Gideon obliged.

Matheson passed on the order and turned back to the display of the sensor data. A tense silence hung over the bridge as the ship formed a jump point and returned to normal space.

“Any sign we have been noticed?”

“Nothing on the sensors, sir, and from the information from Babylon 5's records I'd expect their ships to show up on our sensors if they were any within range.”

“Keep watching out for problems and see if you can intercept any of their signals.”

“Aye, sir.” Matheson turned away, working on a consoles, looking for any signs of signals or ships in their area.

The bridge remained quiet for a while, everyone busy doing their jobs, alert from being in hostile territory.

Deciding that nothing seemed be happening, Matheson reported, “No signals clear enough to intercept. No sign that we have been picked up by sensors.”

“Are they really arrogant enough not to care about attack? Or are their sensors not good enough to pick us out?”  
“Unknown, sir” Matheson kept his tone professional, although he was slightly amused by Gideon's remark.

“Very well, take us closer, slowly.”

Matheson turned and passed the orders to the rest of the crew.

Over the next few hours, they ventured nearer to the planet without managing to pick up any signals, or any communication satellites to piggy-back.

“Right, that's near enough. There is nothing for it but to send the team down. You'll set out first thing in the morning. Take Mr Miller to fly the shuttle.” Gideon ordered.

“Have you considered sending down the probes to get the information?” Eilerson asked. He had come onto the bridge at some point, as was his habit when anything seemed to be going on.

“You think an advanced civilisation is unlikely to notice there suddenly being a lot of shiny spheres dropping onto their planet?” Gideon asked.

The shuttle landed with a bump in a valley at the edge of a range of mountains, a few miles from what appeared to be the main city on the planet. Looking at the sky, Matheson figured that it was clearly early evening local time. Before setting out, he made one last check with the communications equipment in the shuttle, but still failed to intercept any of the signals well enough to break into the Streibs' communications.

“Mr Miller, stay with the shuttle. Monitor our comms, but do not transmit unless absolutely necessary.”

“Yes.” Miller re-entered the shuttle, leaving them alone.

“Mr Eilerson, Dureena, ready to head out?” He said, as he checked over his equipment.

“Yes, yes, let's get going before we are found.”

“Ready.” Dureena started walking towards the city and the others followed her.

After about an hour's walk they reached the edge of the city. Matheson looked around, taking in the dark, windowless stone buildings, wondering for a moment at a race that appeared to have organic technology but whose city looked so dull and normal. He pulled out the masks and robes, passing them out, the team donning them quietly. Dureena quickly led the way as they walked into the city as night was falling, Matheson noticing that she was leading them towards the largest of the nearby buildings. As they got further into the city, he noticed that there were a few Streibs walking along the streets.

Dureena approached the door that was located in the front of the building, looking closely at the lock. She bent down to the lock and quickly managed to open it. After waiting a second, to see if an alarm sounded Matheson assumed, she slipped inside the building and the others followed. As soon as Dureena had closed the door, locking it behind them, Matheson pulled out a torch and shone it around, illuminating the corridor. It seemed to stretch the length of the building with doors off it on one side. There was no other light. The walls looked the same as the outside, but with piping and wiring hanging down in the open. Eilerson moved closer to a screen on the wall nearby; it was hanging on some of the wires going from high in the wall down to the floor. He touched it and it came to life. Matherson noticed that despite not seeming very well secured, it seemed not to move at a fairly hard touch.

“It is a guide to this building.”

Matheson came over to it, as well and asked, “Any sign the console is connected to a network of any kind?”

“Not that I can see,” Eilerson replied, “Look, it only has these options: instructions for machinery; building plan; and worker details.”

Matheson restrained himself from pointing out that he couldn't read the language and instead said, “Try touching somewhere else on the screen.”

Eilerson prodded it in several places to no effect.

Matheson considered the situation, thinking of what to suggest, then said, “Try saying, 'network', 'command line', 'more options'.”

Eilerson complied but to no effect.

“No luck.” He pressed 'building plan'. “There is an office at the other end of this hall. We could have more luck there.”

He strode off down the hall purposefully. Matheson and Dureena glanced at each other, Dureena rolled her eyes and Matheson smiled slightly, before they followed him. Eilerson opened the last door. Matheson glanced around the room; it was small and empty except for a screen on the opposite wall. The walls looked unfinished to his eyes, with piping and wires hanging down in the open. Eilerson and Matheson crossed the room to it, while Dureena stayed by the door, watching the corridor. Matheson touched the screen to activate it.

“Let's see what happens if I just search for the information we need.” Eilerson said and then spoke to the screen in Streib.

Pages of text scrolled by on the screen, Matheson watched him trying to read it, but it looked like it was scrolling too fast for this to be effective.

“Well, there seems to be plenty of information in the system, but it does not seem detailed enough to be useful to use, from what I could catch.”

“Their medical information is probably not accessible from here. We probably need to find a hospital or similar.” Matheson tried not to let his annoyance show. He suspected that he was not entirely successful, but Eilerson didn't seem to have noticed.

“Obviously a hospital would have more useful information, but it was worth checking here. Especially as no-one seems to be able to tell what each building is.”

“Why don't you see if you can locate somewhere where the information is more likely to be?” Matheson said firmly, glancing across at Dureena, who seemed to be ignoring Eilerson's dig.

Eilerson gave it a new search term and the screen displayed a few lines of results, “Right. The nearest prospect is about a mile from here. It is a medical facility of some sort, but it is not clear exactly what its purpose is. I've got directions to it, though.”

“Let's get going, then” Dureena said.

She led them back out of the building, cracking open the door and looking out before exiting.

They walked in silence, trying to look as if they belonged as they passed Streibs on the streets. There weren't many about and they seemed to be hurrying along engrossed in their own affairs. Eilerson pointed out the medical building when came into sight. Matheson looked around, trying to gauge the situation. The medical building seemed to be busier than anywhere else they had passed. He could see lights around the doors and through them as Streibs entered and exited. When they were nearly at the building, he paused in the shadows by a nearly building, the others noticed this and paused as well.

Matheson looked around to check whether anyone else was in earshot, then asked, “Dureena, do you have any suggestions for how we can get in unobserved?”

“Not yet. Wait here and I'll go and have a look around.” Dureena walked towards the building casually, going around it without even seeming to look at it very much. Matheson and Eilerson stepped further back into the shadows of the building and waited for her in silence. As Dureena walked out of his sight, Matheson kept an eye out for anyone looking at them suspiciously, but none of the passers by even seemed to notice them. After about half an hour Dureena returned.

“I've found a possible way in. It seems to be a staff door with an entrance code.” She paused for a second.

“So you want us to try and break a code while standing in the open. That's certainly a foolproof plan.”

“If you'll let me finish, Max. I observed those entering and know the code.”

“Could you see inside?” Matheson asked quickly, trying to avert an argument without pulling rank; he wasn't sure that they would obey him.

“A little. It seems to open into a corridor which didn't seem heavily used.”

“Seems like a good plan. Let's get going.”

Dureena led the way, the others following her. She turned down the side of the building and walked along an alleyway to a small door. She glanced around, then crossed the alleyway and quickly entered the code into the door. It hissed and opened slightly. She pulled it fully open and went in. The others quickly followed. Matheson closed the door behind them and looked around. The corridor was dimly lit, noisy from invisible machines, and had about a dozen doors off it in various directions. The rest of the space was bare. There was no indication of where any of the doors led.

Dureena went to the nearest door and put her ear to it. After a moment, she opened it. Matheson quickly walked over to look in. The room behind was dark and seemed mostly empty. There appeared to be cabinets built into the walls, but nothing else. Here the walls were covered, hiding any piping or wires. As Dureena stepped into the room a screen appeared on the wall and the lights came on. The others hurried after her into the room. Eilerson walked over to the screen.

“It says that this is a medical training room, asks for the identity of the trainee and for the course of study for today.”

“That sounds good. Now we have to see if we can get into the data banks.” said Matheson as he walked over to the screen. “Let me see if I can get it to connect it to our tech.” He pulled out the data pad and leads and tried to find a way to attach the feeds to the screen. However, there did not seem to be any connectors.

“While you're doing that, I'll try the form,” Eilerson said and then started addressing the screen in Streib.

Dureena stood by the door. Having closed it, she looked ready to take on anyone who entered. Matheson used a knife to cut away the wall covering below the screen, revealing a few cables. He tried cutting into one, but when he looked at the interior of the cable it seemed to be organic, rather than electronic and thus making it clear that interfacing it with the datapad was not going to work.

“Have you tried overriding the form, Mr Eilerson?”

“Yes. Using the commands you suggested before.”

“Try 'override', 'administration code' and 'direct connection'.”

Matheson kept thinking and making suggestions for a while, each time waiting for Eilerson to translate it, but after the first few he stopped waiting for the translation of a response, as most of the responses were the same. Eventually he ran out of ideas, and having paused for a moment, said, “I think we are going to have to acquire an identity, or find an unsecured system. Have you found out what it wants as an identity?”

“Yes. It seems that it wants a seven digit number, from what I can deduce.”

“That's interesting - the code for the door was a seven digit number. Perhaps it is worth trying it.” Dureena suggested.

“Well, I would try it if I knew it,” Eilerson replied.

Dureena told him the sequence. He entered it and the screen changed.

“Confirmation of access – studying virology. Enter information to display and level. Download complete course,” Eilerson read from the screen.

Matheson was grateful that neither of the others remarked on his failure, and suggested, “Try selecting download.”

“Of course! I would never have though of that!” Eilerson said dryly as he selected it on the screen and a crystal dataport opened. “Insert datacrystal.”

Matheson put in a datacrystal and it vanished for a moment before being ejected. He took it and entered it into the datapad. He quickly worked on getting the programme working to decode the format and display the start of the information. When this succeeded he handed the data pad to Eilerson, who studied it for a moment, then smiled and said,

“There seems to be a lot of information here. It looks like it could be useful, although I can't tell immediately whether it is what we need. How many datacrystals do you have?”

“Ten,” Matheson replied, although he almost lied as he suspected what Eilerson was going to try to do next.

Eilerson turned back to the screen and started searching for more information, selecting it to be downloaded. Matheson handed the datacrystals over to him, retrieving the datapad, putting it away safely.

“This information could be worth a lot. However it will take a lot of sorting to find out though; I'll get working on it as soon as I get back.”

“Do you think there is likely to be a cure here?” Dureena asked hopefully.

Matheson thought of the colony of her people – if this did contain a cure, they might be saved.

“Possibly, but even if there isn't their surgical techniques sound advanced enough, from the reports we were given, so there is likely to be new information here.”

Dureena turned away as he was speaking. “We should get going. The longer we are here, the more likely something is to go wrong.”

“Just a minute.” Eilerson said, not taking his attention off the screen.

“No. We have got what we came for. Time to get going,” Matheson ordered.

Eilerson pulled the crystal from the system and slowly turned away.

“It just doesn't seem right to waste this opportunity,” he complained.

Dureena opened the door slightly and looked out into the corridor, then quickly closed it. “Looks like trouble! Can you get the screen off quickly?”

Matheson reacted instantly, reaching for the cables below the screen with one hand while he pulled out a knife with the other. He cut the cables and the screen went dead immediately. He noticed Dureena throwing a knife at the lights. The knife hit and the lights went out, leaving darkness, with a little light coming from around the door.

“Quick, get behind the door,” said Matheson, trying to come up with a plan in the moments before they might be discovered.

They moved quickly, Eilerson a little uncertain in the dark, as if he was about to trip over his own feet. Matheson waited tensely for the door to open. After a moment it did, two Streibs looked into the room, then turned away. Eilerson let out a breath, but one of them turned back towards the room. Stepping into it a little, he said something and gestured towards the light. Dureena and Matheson glanced at each other, Dureena gestured to the Streib on the left. Matheson nodded. When the first Streib stepped further into the room, apparently for a closer look at the light, Matheson drew his PPG and shot him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dureena throw a knife at the other Streib – hitting him in the chest. Both Streibs dropped to the ground dead. Dureena quickly knelt beside the nearest body, while Matheson went to look out into the corridor.

“Nothing useful that I can see,” She stood up again.

“No one in sight. Let's get going,” Matheson said.

“We should hide the bodies first,” Dureena said.

She and Matheson each grabbed a body and pulled it into the room. Only after this did it occur to him to look round to see if Eilerson was all right. He was still standing behind the door. Eilerson seemed about to speak but Matheson didn't wait for him to do so and instead said, “Let's go.”

He walked quickly back down to the hall, checking that the others were following him; they were, although Dureena had paused to close the door of the room. Matheson pushed the outside door to open it, but it did not respond. He looked around but saw no sign of a number pad on this side of it. After a moment, Eilerson tried saying something in the Streib language. At this the door opened slowly. They quickly exited and retreated into the shadows of the next building.

“We got what we came for. Now to head back to the ship as quickly as we can.” Matheson said, regaining his calm now that danger no longer seemed imminent.

Eilerson looked like he was about to argue but thought better of it. They set off walking purposefully through the streets. Matheson noticed that there seemed to be even fewer people around, but he thought that it was probably just due to the lateness of the hour.

They had got about half the way back to the edge of the city before they encountered a group of about ten Streibs. Matheson noticed the group spilling out of a building as they were passing, but before he could react they were surrounded. One of the Streibs spoke to them and after a brief pause Eilerson answered. However, while he was speaking the Streibs grabbed hold of all three of them. Matheson noticed one of the Streibs grabbing Dureena's arm, and so ducked sideways to avoid the same happening to him. He punched the nearest guard, aware at the same time of Dureena twisting away from her guard, bending his arm sharply as she reached for her knife. As the guard he hit crumpled, Matheson looked for another target; he noticed Eilerson being held by two of the guards, before he lost conciousness.

Matheson woke up suddenly. Realising at once he was in a strange place, he quickly looked around while trying to remember exactly what had happened. He was lying on the floor of a small room, Dureena lying a little way away and Eilerson sitting with his back to the wall further in. His first impression was that the room was a cell – it was empty except for them, and. the floor, walls and ceiling were all plain and looked to be of stronger material than those in the other rooms he had been in on this planet. The room was dimly lit from the ceiling, but the light source seemed to be hidden. He remembered the fight and assumed that it had ended badly. He groaned, and sat up slowly.

“What happened?” he said, regretting the dryness of his mouth and the pain in his head.

“They seem to have stunners of some sort. Knocked the two of you out as you tried to be heroes. Afterwards they brought us here. They were saying that we had broken curfew. If you had trusted me I might have been able to talk us out of the problem.”

Matheson refrained from commenting on that, but Dureena had woken up while Eilerson was talking, and replied, “Or if you had helped, we might have been able to get away.”

“There were ten of them, and three of us. Those odds were not good.”

“I've succeeded with worse odds.”

“Lieutenant Matheson, you could have helped more – made them unable to shoot us or something.”

“Not to ten aliens at the same time.” Matheson replied, keeping his voice as calm as he could. While the others were arguing he had got up and walked around the cell, looking closely at the walls. He was now examining the door in the same way. Quickly, he cast around for a way to change the subject, not wanting to get involved in any discussion of telepathy. “However, if you would like to do something useful, you could try asking for water or for the door to open. It's possible that these walls have built in functionality, like the screen in that medical training room.”

Eilerson stared at him for a moment, trying to find words, then turn away to look at the walls and said something in the Streib language. A ledge appeared out of the wall with a jug of clear liquid and three glasses on it. Matheson walked over to it and picked up the jug.

“It smells like water.” He poured some of the water into each of the glasses and handed a glass each to the others. Then he sat back down on the floor opposite them. For a minute, they all looked their glasses. Dureena shrugged and took a sip.

“It tastes like water too.”

Following this she drank the rest of the glass, and Matheson drank his glass. It did indeed taste like water, with a processed taste like it had been recycled too often. Eilerson waited for a few moments watching them.

“Waiting to see if we fall down dead, Maximilian?” Dureena said as she got up to look at the door. “Have you tried asking the door to open?”

Matheson noticed that she seemed to be moving stiffly. He reached for his pack, surprised that it had not been taken away, and searched through the medical kit for pain killers.

“Of course I asked the door to open,” replied Eilerson angrily. “Do you think I want to stay locked up here any longer than I have to?”

Dureena shrugged, then commented, “The door looks like it opens upwards, instead of out.”

“Yes, it does. Or at least it closed that way.”

“Well, you could have said. I wasn't awake when it closed.”

“Mr Eilerson, Dureena!” Matheson said, sharply.

The two of them glanced at him for a moment before Dureena turned back to the door and Eilerson looked away.

“Is there any other information that you think might be useful, Mr Eilerson?” Matheson asked, trying his hardest to make his tone level to hide his exasperation. “Dureena, would you like painkillers?”

“We were brought here through a building, it seemed to be some sort of guard post. I didn't see any more Streibs here than you attacked.”

“What was the layout of the building? Did you see how they secured the door?” Dureena asked.

“We were taken through a room and down a corridor. I don't know what they did to the door.” Eilerson replied sullenly. He turned away from Dureena and started speaking random words of the Streib language to see if there was any reaction from the walls. However, nothing further seemed to be forthcoming.

“Will the painkillers make me dopey?” Dureena asked.

“Hopefully not, they're designed to allow full alertness,” Matheson replied.

Dureena nodded and took the proffered tablets, along with his glass. She poured more water into both their glassed before passing his back to him. They both swallowed the painkillers.

After a few moments, Eilerson gave up on finding more functionality. Meanwhile Dureena had taken one of her knives and tried to use it to force the door open, but to no effect. Eventually she gave up as well and came to sit down on the floor with them.

They sat in silence for a while.

“Well, are either of you going to come up with a plan to get us out of the situation that you've got us into?” Eilerson asked eventually.

“There seems to be nothing that we can do at the moment, and insufficient information to know what is going to happen,” replied Matheson.

“Can't you get one of them to come and open the door or something?”

“No.” he replied harshly, trying not to let it show how offensive he found the suggestion.

“You're just going to say no with no explanation, or are you just refusing to think about it?”

“Maximilian!” Dureena said sharply, then turned to Matheson, “You don't have to explain. Why should you? Any more than I have to explain why I can't open the door.”

“Yes, he does, especially as it isn't clear whether he can't or won't.”

“It doesn't matter. Just because you don't have any standard for acceptable behaviour doesn't mean everyone else has to lower themselves to your level.” Dureena got up and moved over towards Eilerson, so that she was standing over him in a way that seemed slightly threatening.

Matheson hoped that she did not actually intend to get into a fight with Eilerson as he would have to stop her, however much he thought she was justified.

“I can't believe that I am being lectured on moral standards by a thief! I do have standards, mostly involving staying alive; an area the two of you seem less interested in!” Eilerson turned to face her, raising his voice.

“I am sure we all want to come out of this alive,” Matheson said. He was wondering if Dureena was standing up for him just because Eilerson was the one doing the attacking or whether she understood the situation.

“Even if you aren't prepared to break the rules to keep us alive, what about the information – this could be what is needed to cure the plague! Is that not enough motivation to do anything to get us out of here?”

“Given what you have said about the layout of the building, even if I could get one of the guards to open the door, it wouldn't do us much good.” Matheson cut in before Dureena could answer.

“Why do you think that?”

“Well, we would have to get past the other guards, and as you pointed out earlier odds of ten to three aren't very good, especially now we know they can stun us, which means they won't hesitate to shoot us,” Dureena replied.

“You thought those odds were fine before.”

“You didn't.”

“Mr Eilerson, Dureena. Both of you stop talking now.” Matheson ordered firmly. Dureena turned away from Eilerson and sat down at the end of the cell by the door, a fair distance from the others. Eilerson opened his mouth to speak, then paused. After a moment he said,

“Why should I? My concerns are valid. I want you to get us out of here now!”

“You are not in charge here, Mr Eilerson. Be quiet or I'll knock you out.”

“Oh, threatening physical violence now!” Eilerson sneered and turned away.

Dureena opened her mouth to respond, but Matheson signalled to her to keep quiet. They settled down to wait for something to happen.

They sat in silence there for several hours before anything happened. Matheson was beginning to think that they would indeed have to come up with a plan to escape when suddenly, they were no longer sitting in the cell, but were in the middle of a large room. Matheson quickly glanced around, taking in the guards at the doors, numbering eight in total: the three guards standing near them, and the figure sitting in front of them. He noticed Dureena doing the same. The two of them jumped to their feet. Eilerson remained sitting on the floor. The Streib in front of them began to speak.

“Okay, they know we aren't Streibs and want to know who we are and what we are doing here?” Eilerson explained. “What should I tell them?”

One of the guards by Eilerson grabbed him and pulled him to his feet, prodded his face until he found the edge of the mask, then pulling it off.

“They're ordering you to take of the masks as well, or they will do it for you.”

Dureena and Matheson took off the masks.

“They are angry, saying that our people killed one of their ships and that we are to be punished for it. Can't you convince him to let us go?”

“No. That is strictly forbidden.” Matheson said softly, trying to conceal his annoyance that Eilerson was even asking him to consider it, and at the same time trying not to sense the fear emanating from him.

“Surely this isn't a good time to be worrying about rules – they are going to execute us or something. Actually not something, he is saying that we will be executed for it.”

Matheson looked away for a moment, struggling with the decision, but as Eilerson had said earlier this might be the information needed to cure the plague. He focused on the Streib. He tried to make an illusion that they were three Streibs and that they didn't need to be punished. For a long moment nothing seemed to happen, then the Streib spoke again.

“He is saying there is no reason for punishment, that we are free to go.”

Matheson quickly grabbed his mask, gesturing to the others to do the same. He felt incredibly tired and his headache was back in full force, but he didn't dare to release the illusion until they had left. The guards had opened one of the doors at the back of the room and they exited through it.

They were guided out of the building, by a confused looking guard. The streets were busier than had been the case at night. They quickly left the building and joined the crowds. Matheson looked around trying to get a fix on where they were and the direction in which they needed to go. Dureena pointed out the medical building that they had been in the previous night, and so the direction in which they should go. She led the way as they walked in silence to the edge of the town. Matheson was grateful that being in disguise required them to stay quiet, as he didn't think he could bare to talk about his part in their escape. Once they were out of the town, and there was no sign of any Streibs within sight, Matheson used his comm bracelet to call the shuttle,

“Mr Miller, we are on our way back. Be prepared to leave soon.”

“Confirmed” Came the reply from the comm.

They made it back to the shuttle without further adventure, and then back to the ship, seemingly without being noticed.

Following their return to the Excalibur, the team met with Captain Gideon and Dr Chambers in the conference room to discuss the mission. It started with Matheson giving a quick report of the mission. Following this, Eilerson reported on his preliminary analysis of the data from the crystals,

“I started looking at the data on the way back in the shuttle. It definitely looks promising, I'll work on getting it translated and passed over to you, Dr Chambers, but I think there is definitely information that we don't already have, although whether it will help with the plague is another matter. The other information I will of course send to IPX when I've translated it.”

“No. It is all medical information and therefore should be given to Dr Chambers. After all there might be something useful in it,” said Gideon firmly.

“Captain, I signed on on this mission on the understanding that I would be able to provide information of value to IPX. There has been very little so that that I have been able to give them so far. This information is clearly suitable, especially as I was responsible for us getting it and getting back safely.”

“You were responsible for us getting back safely!” Dureena exclaimed.

“Yes. If I hadn't said that we were going to be executed, then Lieutenant Matheson wouldn't have been prepared to trick the judge into letting us go.”

“You lied about that?” Matheson said angrily; he felt sick from the realisation and fear as to what would be done to him. He wished that he could just hit Eilerson or do something to make him understand how wrong he had been, but even in his anger Matheson did not lose control enough to do more than think about it for a second.

“Yes. To get you to do what was necessary.” To Matheson's ears Eilerson sounded incredibly smug.

“Mr Eilerson. That was unacceptable behaviour,” Gideon said immediately, before any of the others could speak. “Now explain what the situation actually was.”

“He was going to imprison us, and would probably have searched us and taken the data crystals. We needed to escape before that could happen.”

“It was not your decision to make. Lieutenant Matheson was in command. You should have told the truth.” Dureena butted in, leaning across the table towards Eilerson.

“There was no time to argue about it.”

“So you though it was acceptable to trick him into breaking the new rules for telepaths?” Gideon asked sharply.

“You break the rules all the time here! How is this any different?”

“Of course it is different – Gideon does it by choice, but you know that! You are just making excuses,” said Dureena.

“Well, I got us out of there in a timely manner with the information we needed. Its not as if you haven't forced me to betray my principles any number of times.” Eilerson looked round, seeming to be hoping for support; to Matheson it seemed that none of the others were going to encourage him.

“There is a difference between this and not allowing you to exploit everything and everyone.”

“I do have some principles, I didn't report the colony of your people on Theta 49 to IPX.” Eilerson seem to be able to tell that he was losing the argument, Matheson noted, bleakly glad of the support of Gideon and Dureena.

“How did you know about them?” Dureena swung to look at Gideon and Dr Chambers accusatorily.

“Oh, so you told the others, just not me. I thought we were all supposed to be a part of this mission.”

“I might have told you if I could trust you. How did you find out?”

“The scanner data showed lifeforms similar to yours.”

“So you knew as well?” Dureena asked, turning to Matheson, although slightly less confrontationally.

“Yes, but as you seemed to want to be a secret, I told no one except Captain Gideon,” he replied gently.

“So you knew that other people knew when we talked about it?” Dureena said turned back to face Gideon.

“Not at that point. I found out later that Matheson knew, but neither of us were sure whether Eilerson knew and so I chose not to tell you.”

“You should have.” She said almost calmly.

“You see – we all do these things.” Eilerson put in. “None of us have followed all the rules, so why is this one so much more of a problem?”

“Because it will not go unpunished. EarthGov and the Interstellar Alliance will probably overlook us breaking almost any of their rules in our search, but you must know how delicate the situation with telepaths is.” Matheson replied angrily, while wondering why Eilerson had raised a distraction if he was just going to restart the main conversation.

“So surely we just don't let them know?” Eilerson said.

“It is not that simple. Weren't you paying any attention when we had Mr Jones visiting us, earlier this year?” said Dureena.

“When was that?”

“During our search for the Well of Forever.”

“Mr Eilerson, Dureena.” Gideon said warningly. “Now the situation is what it is. We have to -”

“Not necessarily,” Eilerson interrupted. “As you say the Interstellar Alliance is backing us to find a cure – surely if you go to them and say that the rules for telepaths are getting in the way, then they can exempt Lieutenant Matheson from those rules.”

“I doubt that it would be that simple. After all the alliance is not supposed to meddle in the affairs of the member governments,” replied Gideon.

“There is precedent for it – remember there was a colony of telepaths who escaped from the Psi Corps on Babylon 5,” Chambers pointed out, everyone turned to look at her, as if they were only just remembering that she was there.

“But remember how it ended, it is hardly a situation that the Alliance is likely to want to recall or replicate,” Matheson replied softly.

“However, this wouldn't be the same situation; however much it might remind them of it,” Gideon said thoughtfully. “But, that doesn't change the fact that you behaved unacceptable, Mr Eilerson.”

“Well, what are you going to do? You need me to translate this information – a much better use of my time than standing here arguing with you.”

“None the less, you will apologise to Lieutenant Matheson. Following that you will be confined to quarters, with limited access to the computer systems for now.”

“That's unacceptable, Captain.” Eilerson got to his feet, coldy staring at Gideon.

It was at that point that it struck Matheson that he expected to get away with it without even being punished. He took a quick breath as he felt furious, but he did not speak, knowing that Captain Gideon would not be deflected from it.

“Well, in that case, you will be confirmed to a cell while someone else translates the information.”

“No one else will be able to do it as well as me.”

“Everyone is expendable, Mr Eilerson.”

“Well, I won't apologise.” He turned away.

Gideon got up and went to the door to the bridge. He spoke to the duty officer,

“Have two security guards sent up here immediately.”

“Aye, sir.”

Gideon turned back to the room. Everyone waited in silence until the guards arrived. Matheson noticed that Dureena seemed to be watching him, but he did not meet her eyes, but removed the datacrystal with his report from the viewer as he would now need to rewrite it.

As the guards entered Eilerson said, “You're bluffing! You need me too much to lock me up.”

Gideon did not reply directly, but spoke to the guards, “Take Mr Eilerson to the brig and lock him up. He is to have nothing to do and no visitors.”

“Yes, sir.”

The guards took hold of Eilerson and marched him away.

“Let's see if a few hours is long enough to allow him to calm down,” Gideon said, “The rest of you – leaved this for now. Go and do whatever you want for the moment.”

They all left quietly, obeying his instructions. Matheson was thankful that he had the excuse of being on duty to try and avoid thinking or talking about it.

Later that evening Gideon called Matheson into his office and closed the door.

“I think it is only fair to let you have some input into what I decide to do about Eilerson.” Gideon said, sitting down at the table and pouring himself a cup of fake coffee. “He has been skating close to the line before, but this time he has crossed in into definitely unacceptable behaviour.”

“Yes, sir.” Matheson was pacing to and fro.

“Come and sit down, John,” Gideon said firmly.

After a moment Matheson obeyed. Gideon poured another cup of coffee and passed it over.

“Try not to worry about Mr Jones' next visit for now. I'll find some way to save you from the consequences of this.”

“Do you think that is possible?” Matheson asked hopelessly, looking down at his hands.

“Yes. Given the situation, I am sure that I can find some way out of it for you.” Gideon took a drink of his coffee.

“Good, then, as I am sure Mr Jones would not accept the excuse that I was tricked.” He sounded slightly less hopeless now.

“No, I can't see him choosing to believe that.” Gideon paused, then said gently, “You know I trust you. You don't need to worry about having betrayed my trust.”

Matheson looked up at that; he struggled to find words, feeling that Gideon was being very generous, but Gideon continued, “Now, about Mr Eilerson. I could ask for him to be removed and replaced, but as we have seen, he is very good at his job.”

“And there is no guarantee that anyone else would be as good.”

“Especially given what IPX said when I requested him.”

Matheson took a drink of his coffee to buy himself a minute to think, then said, “I suppose that we should keep him here.”

“You will probably have to work with him in the future.” Gideon commented, he seemed to be watching for Matheson's reaction.

“I am aware of that.” He paused for a moment, “However I am prepared to do so, as it would probably be the best for the mission. I just don't think I would trust him again.”

“Right, that is settled then. I agree that he is not to be trusted. However, I'm sure that we can find a way around that problem. I think we get another linguist or two, so that we can have someone to check up on him where ever possible. Also, he will be far more restricted in his influence and freedom about the ship. Also, he _will_ apologise to you.”

“I am more concerned about his reporting this to IPX.”

“That's a good point. I'll have to think about how to solve that, as we can't stop him reporting to them, or know that he isn't sending the information to them in some form of code. Well, for now, we can just not allow him to transmit anything.”

“Yes.”

“Return to your duties, now.”

“Aye, sir.” Matheson returned to the bridge.

Later that evening Gideon sent one of the security personnel to fetch Eilerson. He returned a few minutes later with him.

“How can I be expected to get this information translated if you inprision me and don't allow me to work on it?”

“I don't believe I asked you to,” said Gideon coldly, annoyed that he still didn't seem to have realised the severity of the situation.

“Do you intend to keep me here as a prisoner?”

“I could chuck you out of an airlock and say it was an accident. Do you think that you have endeared yourself to anyone here enough that they would protest it?” Gideon said as casually as he could, while pretending to be reading a document on the screen.

Eilerson stood silent for a moment, then replied, “Possibly not, but I doubt that you would do it, as you seem to be generally honourable.”

“Thank you. However, don't fool yourself. Another incident like that one and you will find yourself having such an accident. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Captain.” Eilerson paused for a moment, then sat down and went on, “That would seem to imply that you are allowing me to continue on this mission?”

“Yes. However, you will be being checked up on. I am requesting another expert who will be in charge of the section, with you using your skills at their direction.”

“That is unacceptable.”

“Is it really? What do you expect? Would you prefer to leave, with a bad reference back to IPX?” Gideon looked at him directly.

“No, but you can't expect me to work under some idiot.” Eilerson raised his voice, until he was nearly shouting.

“Why not? Your judgement has been shown to be faulty.” Gideon glanced towards the door, but if anyone had noticed there was no visible sign of it.

“You don't understand – most of them are so pedantic that they'll spend days on a single item before giving you any information. It would not suit the way you work at all.”

“What do you suggest then?” Gideon ask sarcastically; he knew that Eilerson was probably right, but not not prepared to suggest a compromise, even if it would have benefited him as well.

“I would have thought that the solution is obvious! Get Lieutenant Matheson to check that I'm telling the truth, in the same way that telepaths do in business negotiations. It is presumably allowed so long as I give permission.”

“Yes. Although you would have to trust that he would only get the necessary information.” Gideon tried not to let his surprise show in his voice, but suspected that he was not entirely successful, he had not thought that Eilerson would ever suggest that he do something unpleasant.

“Given that all this is about him refusing to bend the rules, I don't see why I wouldn't.”

“Very well. I will consult him, and if this is acceptable to him as well, that will be the plan. For now you will be confined to quarters and have restricted access to the computer system. Later you may get those privileges back.”

Eilerson got to his feet and started to leave, but turned as he got to the door and said, “Just remember that IPX will object if I stay out of contact with them for any length of time.”

“I am aware of that.” Gideon got to his feet to head back to the bridge.

Following a conversation with Matheson, Eilerson's scheme was settled on for the time being, and the Excalibur continued on its course to an arranged rendezvous with one of the Rangers who had a promising sounding lead.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta readers, kristin and voksen. They caught a lot of problems, any mistakes that remain are my fault.


End file.
